Update from the kitchen garden

The kitchen garden will soon be supplying the tearoom with some fresh home grown produce. this will include lettuce, beetroot, onions, leeks and more! Growing fruit and vegetables ourselves is helping to reduce our food miles as you can't get much fresher than picking produce a few steps from the kitchen! This will also help to encourage people to grow their own and educate younger visitors about where their food comes from.

Planting has begun!

In accordance with the new kitchen garden plan, the seeds have been planted in the polytunnel. The objective of the plan is to supply the tearoom with as much fresh produce grown on site as possible. Some seeds which have been planted include kale, lettuce, spring onion, along with a small herb garden to provide herbs. If you've visited the tearoom terrace over the past few weeks you may have noticed a new structure beginning to appear in the garden in place of the old fruit cage! This is to replace the fruit cage and increase the productivity of the fruit trees through being more secure to keep birds out!

Digging over the beds.

 If you would like to get involved with any activities in the garden, please feel free to email us at: cardingmill@nationaltrust.org.uk

Planting

With the garden all set up, planting has begun. In the poly tunnel we now have tomatoes, peppers, chillies and cucumbers. Outside we have planted some herbs including sage, chives and corriander, and in the raised beds we have planted lettuce, spinach, radishes and still have some strawberry plants from previous years. Hopefully over the next few months these plants will supply a plentiful amount of food to our tearoom.

Special Thanks to Volunteer John Worrell for all the work that he has put into getting the garden ready, the poly tunnel especially would not be up and ready without him.

Progress in the Kitchen Garden

The kitchen garden has moved on by leaps and bounds in the past couple of weeks, the new poly-tunnel has been completed after waiting for the right weather to be able to put the plastic covering on, and seeds have be planted in the raised beds. All produce from the garden will go into the tearoom to be used in various recipes there. 

Garden Developments 2

While developments continue on the area of ground where the new polly tunnel will be built, FTV Rob has been getting the Ridan Composter up to full working order.

 The produce from the composter will then be mixed with garden waste and placed on the raised beds in the kitchen garden, preparing the soil for vegetables to be used in the Tea room.

Kitchen Garden Update

The radishes are starting to appear in the kitchen garden! Lettuce, carrots, spring onions and lots of other lovely plants have been planted. Once they are ready to pick, they will go straight to the kitchen for Grant to use in his cooking, keep an eye out in the Tea Room!

Wildflowers

Have you seen the wildflowers that are growing in the kitchen garden? This dog violet is happily growing alongside a bed of strawberries. It is amazing what you can find when you look closely.

There are also wild strawberries!



Deconstructing Greenhouses

Some of the TTF helped deconstruct the greenhouses today. Almost all the glass was blown out by high winds during the storms, and it would cost too much to repair. We may possibly get a polytunnel as an alternative, as the tomatoes and other food grown in the greenhouses are always popular in the Tea Room!

Greenhouse Destruction

While most of the Long Mynd got off fairly lightly in the storm, our kitchen garden was not so lucky. Both greenhouses lost almost all their glass, and every bit had to be carefully picked up and disposed of. This took the rangers most the morning! Most of the glass was around the greenhouses, but some had been flung over 15 metres uphill. Other damage from the storm included upturned benches and fallen trees.

Kitchen Garden Update

Summer seems well and truly over, but our kitchen garden is still producing lots of food for the Tea Room! Volunteer Lucy Nickless has been busy working in the garden, and has harvested lots of tomatoes, courgettes, beans and sweet peas. Pop into the Tea Room to sample some of our produce.

Good results from a morning's work!



Ridan Composter Update

Our new composter is now installed in the garden, have a look if you're on the Roof Top Terrace!

It will be used to compost food waste from the kitchen, and the compost will be used in the kitchen garden.

Kitchen Garden Update

Our Kitchen Garden is doing amazingly well! The Sweet Peas have been decorating the Tea Room, while the lettuce and radishes have been filling stomachs. We've also had lots of currants, strawberries and  gooseberries which have gone into smoothies and desserts, and peas which have gone into soup. Take a look if you're on the Roof Top Terrace, or pop into the Tea Room to sample our produce!

Assistant Ranger Nick picks some beans



Carding Mill's New Ridan Composter

Carding Mill Valley has just acquired a new composter! It will use food waste from the kitchen and produce compost to be used in the garden, as much as 200 litres in a week!



Our new composter arrives



It used to belong to National Trust's Attingham Park, but when they no longer needed they kindly donated it to us. Before moving it from the trailer, FTVs Richard and Isabel had to remove all the old compost so it is light enough to lift. 



Richard dives in



It will soon be installed in the garden, look out for it from the Roof Top Terrace!

Gooseberries in the Garden

Assistant Ranger Nick has been busy in the garden harvesting loads of gooseberries. These will go to the kitchen to be made into smoothies and tarts, yum!



Nick is happy with his harvest!

Fresh Produce From the Garden

Volunteer Lucy and her son Rowan are very happy with all the lettuce and beans they've got from the garden! Pay a visit to the tea room to sample some of the labours of their hard work.



Full of beans!



Slurp on a Summer Cooler

 Grant has begun creating some delicious summer drinks in the CMV tearoom. They are perfect for cooling you down when relaxing in the sun on the rooftop terrace.

Below there is a refreshing fruity garden smoothie made from a mix of fresh berries picked from our own kitchen garden and blended with bananas and ice cold milk.

Below is a refreshing ice coffee: an expresso shot, a ball of farmhouse icecream and topped up with cold milk.



Masonic Group enjoying fresh food in the tearoom

25 People from a masonic group visited the tearoom the other day for a meal, using fresh fruit and veg from the kitchen garden. After their meal they had a presentation by Nick Robinson, assistant ranger about the management of the Long Mynd and some participants went into the kitchen garden to see where their delicious food had come from.



Salad using lettuce harvested from the garden

 

Desert - A delicious tart using strawberries and red currants from the garden

Tempting you into the Tearoom...

Now the sunny weather has arrived our kitchen garden is doing amazingly! We have a huge variety of fresh fruit and veg and its all going into the Carding Mill Valley tearoom to be made into tasty meals and deserts! Just look at the lovely yield we have!  



Loads of lucious lettuce, lots of varieties growing in the garden.



The peas have a bit more to go but soon they will be ready!

 

Delicious strawberries, which are being used in tarts in the tearoom.



The tomatoes are coming on well

 

Ripe redcurrants

 

Julie with a tart made with fresh strawberries and red currants from the garden

  

Some gorgeous Gooseberries

Kitchen Garden Produce

Yesterday we harvested the first produce of the year from the kitchen garden. The lettuce was ready and went straight into the tearoom to be prepared for sandwich fillings.

Rhubarb Rhubarb

Ben in the tearoom has been making good use of some of our kitchen garden produce. Yesterday he made some of our rhubarb plants into a delicious chutney.